France's round of the World Rally Championship will run on the Alsace-Vosges Rally from 2010 to 2012.
France's motorsport federation, the FFSA, took the vote and made the decision last night. The decision was reportedly unanimous in favour of the mainland event over the Tour de Corse, which has been France's qualifying WRC round since 1973.
Rally Alsace-Vosges, a French Rally Championship round, is based in Epinal and currently runs a two-day route in the Vosges mountains. The event will move from its traditional May date to October for next year's WRC round. Its closest major population centre is Strasbourg. Central European rally fans will be in a for a treat, however, as the event starts within 150 miles of Trier, the home town of Rally Germany. The Alsace region is also the home area of France's six-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb.
The World Rally Championship promoter International Sportsworld Communicators has been pushing for a move away from island rallying in favor of larger centers of population on the mainland.